Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:01
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REUTERS: The rupee edged up on Monday due to dollar sales by a corporate after a long holiday and ahead of the Central Bank’s policy rate announcement, while dealers expect the currency to remain steady at the current level.
The spot rupee ended at Rs. 130.60/62 per dollar, slightly firmer from Thursday’s close of Rs. 130.60/65. Markets were closed on Friday for a public holiday.
“There was dollar selling pressure in the latter part of the day and a corporate sold dollars,” said a currency dealer asking not to be named.
Dealers expect the rupee to trade in a range of Rs. 130.60-70 in the near future. It has been hovering between Rs. 130.55 and Rs. 130.70 per dollar since 3 March, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Dealers say the Central Bank’s intervention through two state banks has been used to defend the rupee from sharp swings.
There has been a gradual increase since mid-March in remittances by Sri Lankan expatriates to their relatives, while dollar selling has also increased as exporters paid bonuses to their employees.
Those inflows have helped ease depreciation pressure, which was there in the early part of the year.
